JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Stake in Darden Restaurants, Inc. $DRI

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) by 78.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,666,919 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 1,171,890 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 2.29% of Darden Restaurants worth $507,675,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of DRI. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in Darden Restaurants by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 10,093 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,921,000 after acquiring an additional 1,214 shares in the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Darden Restaurants during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $245,000. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Darden Restaurants in the third quarter valued at approximately $767,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 23.3% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,313 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,105,000 after buying an additional 3,088 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Center for Financial Planning Inc. boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 15.8% during the third quarter. Center for Financial Planning Inc. now owns 2,671 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $508,000 after buying an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. 93.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Darden Restaurants news, insider John W. Wilkerson sold 2,258 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.00, for a total value of $480,954.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 17,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,787,992. The trade was a 11.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,635 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.36, for a total value of $546,393.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 4,098 shares in the company, valued at $849,761.28. This trade represents a 39.14% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 18,770 shares of company stock worth $3,948,970 in the last three months. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DRI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Darden Restaurants from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and set a $207.00 price objective (down from $240.00) on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.78.

Darden Restaurants Stock Performance

NYSE DRI opened at $216.72 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.00 and a fifty-two week high of $228.27. The business has a fifty day moving average of $200.47 and a 200-day moving average of $194.37. The stock has a market cap of $24.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.64.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by ($0.02). Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 52.44% and a net margin of 8.92%.The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.03 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 9th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.89%.

Darden Restaurants Profile

Darden Restaurants, Inc is a multi-brand, full-service restaurant company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company owns and operates a portfolio of casual and fine-dining concepts that together serve millions of guests through company-owned and franchised locations. Its well-known brands include Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, alongside other dining concepts that span Italian, American, steakhouse and upscale casual formats.

Darden’s restaurants provide a range of guest-facing services including dine-in, takeout, delivery and catering, and feature menus tailored to each brand’s positioning—Italian-American fare at Olive Garden, steaks and grilled items at LongHorn, and more premium steakhouse and chef-driven offerings at its upscale concepts.